Joseph Swetnam - Fencing Manual

Fencing Manual

In his 1617 fencing treatise, The Schoole of the Noble and Worthy Science of Defence, Joseph Swetnam represents himself as the fencing instructor for the then-deceased Prince Henry. The treatise itself is a manual detailing the use of the rapier, rapier and dagger, backsword, sword and dagger, and quarterstaff, prefaced with eleven chapters of moral and social advice relating to fencing, self defense, and honor. Swetnam claims that his is the first complete fencing treatise authored by an Englishman.

Swetnam is known for teaching a unique series of special guards (such as the fore-hand guard, broadwarde, lazie guard and crosse guard), though his primary position is a "true guard", which varies slightly for each weapon. He advocates the use of thrusts over cuts and makes heavy use of feints. Swetnam favored fencing from a long distance, using the lunge, and not engaging weapons. His defenses are mostly simple parries, together with slips (evasive movements backward).

Swetnam's fencing system has been linked both to contemporary Italian systems as well as the traditional sword arts of England; his guard positions resemble those of contemporary Italian instructors, but his fencing system appears structurally different, and more closely related to a lineage of English fencing. He is also distinctive in his advice to wound rather than kill an opponent.